Friday, December 07, 2018

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 155,000 in November, and the unemployment rate
remained unchanged at 3.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job
gains occurred in health care, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing.
...
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised down from +250,000 to
+237,000, and the change for September was revised up from +118,000 to +119,000. With these
revisions, employment gains in September and October combined were 12,000 less than previously
reported.
...
In November, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6
cents to $27.35. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 81 cents, or 3.1
percent.emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the monthly change in payroll jobs, ex-Census (meaning the impact of the decennial Census temporary hires and layoffs is removed - mostly in 2010 - to show the underlying payroll changes).

Total payrolls increased by 155 thousand in November (private payrolls increased 161 thousand).

Payrolls for September and October were revised down 12 thousand combined.

This graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In November the year-over-year change was 2.443 million jobs.

The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.

The Labor Force Participation Rate was unchanged in November at 62.9%. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force. A large portion of the recent decline in the participation rate is due to demographics and long term trends.

The Employment-Population ratio was unchanged at 60.6% (black line).

I'll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.

The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate was unchanged in November at 3.7%.

This was below the consensus expectations of 190,000 jobs added, and September and October were revised down, combined. Still a decent report.